That represents the highest level the survey has reported in more than a decade and was two whole days more than the pre-pandemic rate of 5.8 days.
The upsurge in sickness absence comes at a time when employers appear to be under increasing pressure with recruitment and retention challenges.
The survey was conducted in the spring and was based on responses from 918 organisations covering more than 6.5 million employees.
Earlier this year official ONS data also found that sickness absence had increased since the pandemic, with a record 185.6 million working days lost to sickness absence in the UK in 2022, 47.4 million more than pre-pandemic.
The survey also found stress to be a significant factor for both short- and long-term absence, with more than 76% of respondents reporting stress-related absence in their organisation in the past year.
Covid-19 continued to be a significant cause as well, with more than a third (37%) reporting it as being a main cause of short-term absence.
The top causes of short-term absence included: minor illnesses (94%), musculoskeletal injuries (45%), and mental ill health (39%).
Causes of long-term absence were similar, led by mental ill health (63%) and included acute medical conditions, such as stroke or cancer (51%) and musculoskeletal injuries (51%).
Organisations were attempting to address health and wellbeing issues overall, through a range of support, the report said.
In fact, 69% of organisations offered occupational sick pay leave schemes for all employees and 82% provided an employee assistance programme (EAP).
Overall, 53% of organisations surveyed had a stand-alone wellbeing strategy, which was a slight increase from the previous survey in 2021 (50%).
‘Considerable rise is a worry’
The CIPD and report sponsor Simplyhealth called on organisations to have an open and supportive culture where people can speak to line managers about health issues and access helpful support and adjustments such as flexible working options and health services.
Rachel Suff, senior employee wellbeing adviser at the CIPD said: “Despite our research showing that most organisations are focusing on employee wellbeing, the considerable rise in absences across all sectors is a worry.
“External factors like the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have had profound impacts on many people’s wellbeing.
“It’s good to see that slightly more organisations are approaching health and wellbeing through a stand-alone strategy. However, we need a more systematic and preventative approach to workplace health.
“This means managing the main risks to people’s health from work to prevent stress as well as early intervention to prevent health issues from escalating where possible.
“It’s important that organisations create an open, supportive culture where employees feel they can come forward.”
Claudia Nicholls, chief customer officer at Simplyhealth, said: “With record numbers of people off sick, employers have a vital role to play in supporting them through workplace health and wellbeing services.
“They can have a positive impact on the economy and ease pressure on the NHS.
“Despite an increasing number of workplace health and wellbeing services being put in place, employees are experiencing increasing mental health issues and the highest rate of sickness absence in a decade.
“However, focussing on fixing sickness alone is unlikely to uncover areas where any significant improvements can be made; companies need to implement preventative health and wellbeing strategies that are supported by the most senior levels of leadership and build line manager skills and confidence to support wellbeing.”
